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Weblogs - (Elham Naseri)
'''Weblog''' The first time I saw a Weblog, I knew I was looking at something very different from a "regular" Web page. Metafilter.org was one of only a handful of collaborative/community blogs back in 2001, where thousands of "members" were able to post funny or interesting links to a page, and where other members could leave their own opinions about those links just as easily. It was, and is, a fairly undistinguished looking site; lots of text and very few of the typical bells and whistles. But I will never forget the first time I posted my opinion, and the first time someone responded to it. There was something really powerful about so easily being able to share resources and ideas with a Web audience that was willing to share back what tbey thought about those ideas. In essence, that's still what I find so powerful about Weblogs today, more than nine years later. Writing to the Web is easy. And there is an audience for my ideas. Those two concepts are at the core of why I think Weblogs have such huge potential in an educational setting. What exactly is a Weblog? In its most general sense, a Weblog is an easily created, easily updateable Web site that allows an author (or authors) to publish instantly to the Internet from any Internet connection. The earliest blogs were literally "Web logs," or lists of sites a particular author visited on any given day that would be revised by changing the HTML code and updating the file on a server. But soon, the Internet geeks who maintained these sites developed software to automate the process and allow other people to collaborate. Happily, blogging today doesn't require any knowledge of code or FTP. It takes as much skill as sending an e-mail. But what really distinguisbes a blog from your run-of-the-mill Web site is much more than process; it's what you'll find there. Weblogs are not built on static chunks of content. Instead, they are comprised of reflections and conversations that in many cases are updated every day (if not three or four •times a day). Blogs engage readers with ideas and questions and links. They ask readers to think and to respond. They demand interaction. Take educator and blogger Dean Shareski's "Ideas and Thoughts" blog as an example. Visitors to his site can see his latest post at the top of the left-hand column, and if they scroll down the page, they can read what Dean has been posting for the last couple of months. Among the things readers might find are reflections from his daily work, links to interesting or educational sites on the Web, ideas for lessons, and responses to the thoughts and ideas of other bloggers. And for every post, readers can leave comments that subsequent visitors to the site will be able to view. Typical comments on Dean's blog come from other teachers who share their own experiences, ask questions for clarification or to push his thinking, and offer links to other relevant pieces of content. In this way, blogs are a collaborative space, as readers become a part of the writing and learning process. Dean Shareski's "Ideas and Thoughts" is one of many popular "edu" blogs. Like most, regular posts are featured in the left-hand column, while links to archives and other resources can be found in the side column. Dean's Weblog is also filled with links-another key characteristic of blogs. He has links to bookmarks that he's saved, personal affiliations, and archives of allof his posts. Just about every post in his blog has a link in it, which is part of a good blog practice. (Being able to connect ideas and resources via linking is one of blogging's most important strengths.) And every post is itself a link so that others who read Dean's ideas can write about them on their own blogs and send their own readers Dean's way. That, in fact, is one of the key ways that community among bloggers is built. But make no mistake, Dean's blog is every bit a Web site. He can include graphics, photos, video, and audio files; his blog can have almost any feature a more traditional Web site can have. Some of this depends upon the blog software and the skill level of the user, but for the most part, there isn't much that you can't do. And the best part is that most "blogwares" now come with a pretty impressive list of professional-looking templates right out the box, so even though Dean may have personalized the look of his site somewhat, there's no startup design even necessary. But just to be clear, there are, I think, variations on the blogging theme that are important to identif'y. Millions of young adults have created sites at Weblog hosting services like Facebook.com, MySpace.com, and Beebo.com, and by and large these authors are said to be bloggers. It's encouraging, to say the least, that so many of our would-be students have embraced the concept of publishing to the Web, and it bodes well for our use of these technologiesin the classroom. What's somewhat discouraging, to me at least, is that these teenagers use these sites more as social tools than learning tools, and their behavior is sometimes reckless. There are continuing stories in the media heralding the dangers ofblogs as resources for predators, and about teenagers divulging too much of themselves (in text and photo) online. Although that is definitely cause for concern and action, my fear is that the powerful instructional uses of the tool are being at best ignored and at worst not even considered. I would argue that what most adolescents are doing at these sites is more journaling than blogging, and from a classroom viewpoint, it's an important distinction to make. As I'll show a bit later, blogging is a genre that engages students and adults in a process of thinking in words, not simply an accounting of the day's events or feelings. In fact, learning specialists Fernette and Brock Eide's research shows that blogging in its truest form has a great deal of potentially positive impact on students. They found that blogs can • promote critical and analytical thinking; • be a powerful promoter of creative, intuitive, and associational thinking; • promote analogical thinking; • be a powerful medium for increasing access and exposure to quality Information. • combine the best of solitary reflection and social interaction. WEBlOGS IN SCHOOLS Adopters of Weblogs in the classroom have already created a wide variety of ways to use them, and they have shown that blogs can enhance and deepen learning. Even at this still fairly early stage of development, blogs are being used as class portals, online filing cabinets for student work, e-portfolios, collaborative space, knowledge management, and even school Web sites. Through the unique process of blogging, which will be discussed in much more detail shortly, students are learning to read more critically, think about that reading more analytically, and write more clearly. And, they are building relationships with peers, teachers, mentors, and professionals within the Weblog environment. If you're wondering just how flexible a Weblog can be as a teaching tool, see the lengthy list of uses created by Anne Davis, an elementary school teacher and Weblog advocate in Conyers, Georgia, at the end of this chapter. And with a little thought and experimentation, I'm sure we could add plenty more ideas as well. In the meantime, here's a closer look at how educators have been using Weblogs in their schools. Class Portal One trend that shows no sign of stopping is the movement of curriculum to a digital, online environment. Although some schools invest in expensive content management systems like Blackboard, many Weblog packages can accomplish almost as much at a much lesser cost. In this vein, a great entry point for Weblog use is to build a class portal to communicate information about the class and to archive course materials. From a teaching standpoint, having a place to publish the course curriculum, syllabus, class rules, homework assignments, rubrics, handouts, and presentations makes a Weblog a powerful course management tool. When I created a portal for my journalism classes (see Figure 2.2), I was amazed at how frequently my students started using it and how much time I saved by not having to dig out duplicate copies of things that I had already handed out. Further, it drastically reduced the frequency of the "I didn't know we had homework" or "That was due today?" responses when my students didn't do their work. I'd just simply say, "It was on the blog." For the most part, parents love the transparency and the ability to access class materials. Most blogging software programs have automatic notification features, so parents can be notified when new information about the class is posted. (This could also be done via RSS, which we'll discuss in Chapter 5.) The class portal Weblog makes it easy to communicate with peers who might be teaching the same course. I know my department chair liked the ability to visit the blog to see what we were up to and to get any information she might need about the class. Portals are a great way to get comfortable with the transparency that Weblogs provide. Online Filing Cabinet Giving students their own Weblogs can change much about the traditional classroom. Coupled with a classroom portal space, there's a good chance the class can go paperless as students simply post their work online for peer and teacher response. This creates a digital filing cabinet for students to archive their work and, in effect, creates a space for an online portfolio of work. This has a number of obvious advantages. First, students never misplace their work. The dog never eats it; it's either in their blog or not. From a simple keeping track of papers perspective, this can make life much easier for teachers. If questions arise about whether or not a student handed in homework, the teacher can just look in the student's Weblog. (Some blogs even have time stamps on posts, so teachers can really enforce strict deadlines.) Second, having all of their work organized in one place makes for some great opportunities for student reflection. It's very easy for students to look back over their work and, hopefully, see the growth they've accomplished. This is also true if peers, teachers, or mentors give feedback and respond in the blog. And remember that Weblogs are searchable; if a student is looking for a particular assignment or post, it's usually not too hard to locate. Finally, work on a Weblog can be shared with others who might be interested or invested in the student's progress. Just like with a classroom portal site, it's easy for parents to follow along as a student posts his or her work. This holds true for counselors, mentors, and peers as well. It's that transparency thing again. Now think for a moment if students had Weblogs set up from the time they started school to the time they graduated. What they could have at the end would be a comprehensive history of their work and learning that was searchable and shareable, one that would provide a great resource for reflection or future study. And it would be an artifact that students could use to show expertise in a particular vocation or to impress potential college admissions officers. Either way, having that record oflearning would be a very useful thing. E-Portfolio It's not a huge leap to jump from blog filing cabinet to blog portfolio. The traditional portfolio process is supported almost perfectly by Weblogs. First, students collect the work they might want to consider highlighting in their portfolio and then they select those that represent their best work. (This can include links to videos, podcasts, presentations, and more, all of which we'll cover in later chapters.) They then reflect on the choices they madesomething they can easily do in a blog post. Finally, they publish the result for others to see. Even more powerful is the idea that these portfolios could conceivably span many grades and many classes. In fact, e-portfolio guru Helen Barrett created online portfolios using more than 1 5 different software packages, many of them Weblogs (Barrett, 2004). Collaborative Space One of the biggest potentials of Weblogs is the ability to create spaces where students can collaborate with others online. Although collaborative learning has been a buzzword in American education for some time now, the ReadlWrite Web opens up all sorts of new possibilities for students to learn from each other or from authors or scientists and other professionals who can now work side by side in digital space even though they may be far away from one another physically. It was collaboration between my junior and senior students and Sue Monk Kidd, the author of the best-selling The Secret Life of Bees (Kidd, 2002) that really sold me on the potential and power of Weblogs as a learning tool (see Figure 2.3). Our school adopted the book into the curriculum just nine months after it had been released, and because it was so new, I thought to use a Weblog to have my students create an online reader's guide to the book. In the process, I contacted the book's publicist to see if the author might want to j oin us in our study of the book. Much to my delight, after a few back-and-forth e-mails explaining what a Weblog was and how it worked, she agreed. So, while my students read and commented online, Sue Monk Kidd was able to follow along and then respond to a series of questions they had at the end of the book. Her 2,300-word response really floored us all. School Web Site Finally, Weblogs can be used as a building block for a school Web site. A major complaint about school Web sites is that few of them are updated on a regular basis. That's an easy fix with a Weblog site. Imagine if each department had its own blog that it could maintain as needed. Imagine if all the clubs and activities, all the sports teams, and all the student government bodies had their own sites that they could update. The overall school site would move from a static, wait-for-the-Webmaster-to-update-it type site to a dynamic, every-day-there's-something-new type site. Take a look at the Meriwether-Lewis Elementary School site, for instance (lewiselementary.org; see Figure 2.4). Principal Tim Lauer, who is an ed-blogging pioneer in his own right, has used Web logs to increase communication with parents and staff, post pictures and student work, keep the yearly calendar, and really create a community around the site. Teachers post weekly "Classroom Notes" that serve as a running diary of what students are doing and achieving. Now that's not to say that everyone should be given carte blanche to post whatever they think is interesting. It's a good idea to designate a site "master" for each blog who reviews content before it gets published. And it's also a good idea to have at least one person who sees everything that goes up. (This is easier than it sounds with RSS, as I'll discuss in Chapter 5.) But there is no doubt that students, teachers, parents, and community members will all be better served by having up-to-date, relevant information at their fingertips through a Weblog or Web site. THE PEDAGOGY OF WEBLOGS So what exactly can Weblogs do to improve student learning? Why should classroom teachers consider blogs as a tool to deliver their curriculum? The ReadlWrite Web is still in its relative infancy, and the answers to these questions are just now beginning to be clarified. But there are some basic aspects of blogs that make them an attractive addition to the teacher's toolbox nonetheless. First, Weblogs are truly a constructivist tool for learning. Because the content that students and teachers create is on the World Wide Web, it is content that becomes a part of the wider body of knowledge that the Internet represents. It is searchable; people can find it and use it. The Secret Life of Bees Weblog that my students created has been accessed more than 3 million times as of this writing. Needless to say, not all of those people came from our school. That potential audience is one of the most important aspects of the ReadIWrite Web. The idea that the relevance of student work no longer ends at the classroom door can not only be a powerful motivator but can also create a significant shift in the way we think about the assignments and work we ask of our students in the first place. Second, Weblogs truly expand the walls of the classroom. The Internet has always provided the possibility of connecting students with others outside the classroom via e-mail and chat groups. But now that collaboration can be much more accessible and much more diverse. We can create sites where classes from disparate geographies can conduct all sorts of experiments; share the results through text, picture, audio, or video; and invite expert scientists into the process to reflect on the results. And in a world that is moving more and more toward a business model of the collaborative construction of content, learning to work with far-flung collaborators is becoming an important literacy. BLOGGING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM Although the nature of Web logs makes them fairly obvious tools for teaching writing and reading, educators are using blogs in all areas of the curriculum to collaborate with subj ect-specific experts, to archive learning, to share results of experiments, and to publish student work. Blogging across the curriculum offers students and teachers not only the ability to infuse writing into all disciplines, it facilitates connections in ways that plain paper cannot. Students can work on math problems with peers from other classes. Science experiments can be run concurrently at any number of different sites across the country or around the world with student researchers comparing and reflecting on the results on a Weblog. Language students can create conversations with native speakers, physical education students can log and analyze their workouts or diets, and history students can construct resource sites for their study of ancient civilizations and conflicts. Here are a few specific examples of teachers employing Weblogs with their students. BLOGS AS RESOURCES Regardless of whether you and/or your students become bloggers, blogs have probably already become sources of information about whatever topics you might be studying. And this means that at the very least, you and your students will need to learn how to evaluate them for accuracy and trustworthiness. If anyone with an Internet connection can now get online and start blogging about any topic he or she wants, how do we know whom to believe? The easy way is to not believe any of the bloggers since their posts are, at least in the traditional ways, unedited content. But that would be to ignore some very smart and relevant voices that are gaining more and more of a reputation as credible sources each day. And really, this is the work that is required of all of us if we are to be truly information literate in the twentyfirst century. Before getting to some specific strategies for determining valid sources, I would urge you to read long-time edublogger Stephen Downes's excellent post on the topic. Essentially, Downes says that there is no way to tell for sure if something you read on the Web in general is true, and that we can no longer trust even traditional sources to always be accurate and tell the truth. In the end, "determining what to believe-or to not believe-is a matter of trust. You need to determine for yourself who to trust about what" (Downes, 2005). I agree, and teachers and students have to realize that we've entered an age in which there are no longer many free passes when it comes to assessing the reliability of a source. As we've seen in the past few years, even the New York Times can get it horribly wrong, and now that everyone can have a voice in the more controversial subjects of the day, it's getting harder and harder to make sense of it all. CLASSROOM USES OF WEB LOGS You might like to create a reflective, journal-type blog to • reflect on your teaching experiences etc., • keep a log of teacher-training experiences etc., • write a description of a specific teaching unit, • describe what worked for you in the classroom or what didn't work, • provide some teaching tips for other teachers, • write about something you learned from another teacher, • explain teaching insights you gain from what happens in your classes, • share ideas for teaching activities or language games to use in the classroom, • provide some how-tos on using specific technology in the class, describing how you used this technology in your own class, • explore important teaching and learning issues. You might like to start a class blog to • post class-related information such as calendars, events, homework assignments, and other pertinent class information; • post assignments based on literature readings and have students respond on their own Weblogs, creating a kind of portfolio of their work; • communicate with parents if you are teaching elementary school students; • post prompts for writing; • provide examples of classwork, vocabulary activities, or grammar games; • provide online readings for your students to read and react to; • gather and organize Internet resources for a specific course, providing links to appropriate sites and annotating the links as to what is relevant about them; • post photos and comment on class activities; • invite student comments or postings on issues in order to give them a writing voice; • publish examples of good student writing done in class; • showcase student art, poetry, and creative stories; • create a dynamic teaching site, posting not only class-related information, but also activities, discussion topics, links to additional information about topics they are studying in class, and readings to inspire learning. S TANDARDS FOR THE ENGLISH lANGUAGE ARTS SPONSORED BY NCTE AND IRA The vision guiding these standards is that all students must have the opportunities and resources to develop the language skills they need to pursue life's goals and to participate fully as informed, productive members of society. These standards assume that literacy growth begins before children enter school as they experience and experiment with literacy activities-reading and writing, and associating spoken words with their graphic representations. Recognizing this fact, these standards encourage the development of curriculum and instruction that make productive use of the emerging literacy abilities that children bring to school. Furthermore, the standards provide ample room for the innovation and creativity essential to teaching and learning. They are not prescriptions for particular curriculum or instruction. Although we present these standards as a list, we want to emphasize that they are not distinct and separable; they are, in fact, interrelated and should be considered as a whole. 1 . Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, and classic and contemporary works. 2 . Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience. 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (such as sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics). 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes. 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.